The Waning Dhoni Magic

Gone are the days when anything Dhoni touched on the cricket field turned gold. He was not always lucky with the toss, but for him that didn’t often matter either – it was always his style to salvage matches for India from points of absolute defeat. May it be his unique batting prowess or may it be his exceptional ability to read match situations as a captain, he always had that Midas touch in everything he did. But as they say, all good things must come to an end one day and it seems that the proverbial end is getting nearer for that Dhoni magic. If it is really not the end, certainly the magic is waning, and waning in an alarming rate for him and his team.

It had become a habit to the media and his fans, including this writer, to keep on boasting about the Dhoni’s magic as a captain. His decisions were always right, or in the medium term they turned to be right later, like persisting with Rohit Sharma in the team. However if one analyse how he made the decisions in the ongoing New Zealand series then one can find that they were mostly un-Dhoni-like. The most glaring of them all was the decision to promote the in-form Virat Kohli to open the innings and to put Ajinkya Rahane at No.3 in the 4th ODI at Hamilton. It defies logic why he made this obvious tactical error, when Rahane is an established opener and Kohli batting extremely well at No.3. And if he was really serious about trying out Kohli as an opener in the place of struggling Shikhar Dhawan, then why did he revert to using Dhawan as an opener in the 5th ODI at Wellington?

Every expert of the game, every fan of the Indian cricket team is scratching their heads, quite  unable to understand why Ishant Sharma is still in the Indian XI. Time and again the fast bowler (if he could be called so) has failed miserably and as Sunil Gavaskar had pointed out, Sharma is not all learning even after this many games to his credit. Even after playing so many matches for the country he hasn’t perfected bowling yorkers or slow balls at the depth. It seems that even a haircut can help him to better concentrate on the areas he aims to bowl at - but he is in no mood to change. It is high time to jettison him from the team and to advise him to play domestic cricket to get better, though chances seem to be less even for such a turn around.

Dhoni’s favourite spinner R. Ashwin is going through a bad phase in his career as well. There is no doubt that he is a talented cricketer and a thinking player. However as his personal coach Sunil Subramaniam says, many technical flaws have crept into his bowling. He has put on a lot of weight and he is not putting his body behind his deliveries and is bowling only with his spinning fingers, without any body involvement in it. He should also be made to go back to the domestic circuit, work on his technical flaws and come back as an effective offie. His batting has improved by leaps and bounds, but he and his captain must be careful about not losing his bowling prowess while he works more strongly in improving his batting. There are many bowlers who have committed this mistake - Irfan Pathan is a case in point. Even when Ashwin is struggling a great deal, Dhoni is not ready to try out Amit Mishra and the leggie has been travelling with this Indian team for a very long time without getting any match.

Dhoni’s CSK team mate Suresh Raina is another batsman who is struggling big time. Dhoni’s liking for his CSK team mates is well known, but he should not get tied down with them. It’s imperative that he thinks beyond them and look for other options. Vijay Sol and Sanju Samson are playing well in the under-19 level, Cheteshwar Pujara could be given a chance in ODIs too, Stuart Binny is another option he has got. When Dhoni gave a chance to Stuart Binny in the 4th ODI, we thought that the all rounder will get an extended run. But he was dropped from the team in the 5th ODI and even in the match that he played, he was not given a chance to bat and when he bowled, it was only for one over. These are not things that we associate the brave captain Dhoni with and these are surely signs of his withering  magic and waning self belief as a captain.

MSD was the kind of batsman who, when he was in the crease any target was achievable. He had the knack of pulling out India from every trouble, mostly single-handedly. But suddenly that ability is also missing from his batting. Yes he has been scoring runs recently, but his batting efforts are not yielding the same results as before. He is still making runs and doing everything in his hands to win matches for India, only that he is unable to work out the magic and bring success to his team. He is constantly getting out during a chase without completing his task, which is again quite un-Dhoni-like.

When one takes into consideration that the cricket world cup next year is in Australia and New Zealand, it is a matter of concern that the Indian team, the reigning Champions, are appallingly out of contention, if they are going about their tasks in the present day fashion. However it is also true that we cannot find a better captain that Dhoni now, as the world cup is round the corner. This writer still believes that Dhoni is the man. If Dhoni can get more flexible with his tactics, he can bring back the glorious days of this Indian team. We can only hope that Dhoni will someway get his magic back, which clearly appears waning now.

Who is Afraid of the Aam Aadmi?

One thing is for certain, and there could be no doubt whatsoever on it that the conventional political parties in India (read Congress, BJP, the leftists, other existing national and regional political parties) are shaken to the core with the emergence of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a force to reckon with in Indian politics. With simple slogans and principled stance on many day-to-day issues of the people, it has caught the imagination of many. Its enormous popular support has forced all other parties to have a rethink on their policies and their election strategies. It is quite a fun to see how leaders of many political parties are claiming that they themselves are already aam aadmi parties. This shows that the brand ‘aam aadmi’ is becoming hugely popular and hence every party is trying to get a share of that popularity.

As is often the case with anyone or anything popular, the aam aadmi phenomenon, if one could call it so, has its share of criticisers as well. It can be seen that many political party leaders and ordinary party workers of most political parties are hell bent on finding fault with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). They suffer microscopic scrutiny from their rivals online and offline. In the social media and in traditional media there are criticisms of all kinds against AAP ranging from how impractical their policies are to how impossible it will be for a political party to survive in Indian political scene without credible and well thought out policies on economic growth, caste equations, national security and counter insurgency.

However such criticisms appear rather naive as there has never been a political party in human history that entered a political scene with well thought out policies on all issues in that political system or in the state where the party is trying to establish themselves in. It is always so that when a new political party confronts an issue they will have an internal debate and will then create a policy on that particular issue, on which they will hold onto tightly from thereon. Karl Marx’s Das Capital didn’t had ideological explanation on globalisation for the leftists to bank upon and it was later when confronted with the issues of globalisation that the Marxist Communist parties the world over deliberated on it and created a concrete policy on it. Similarly, given time, AAP will also deliberate among themselves on the various issues when they confront them and will come out with a policy stance. 

The political parties and their leaders will do well to explain what policies of AAP they find to be problematic. Are they against AAP’s policy of fighting corruption? Are they against stopping VIP culture in India? Are they against a strong Jan Lokpal? Are they against improving education standards in government schools? Are they against improving safety of women in the country? These are the main policies of AAP and if you are against these policies then you are certainly against the people of India. These are the things that Indians want and the overwhelming popularity that AAP has in India is certainly because they stand for what the Indians want.

It is very important for the people of this country to understand that those who say that the AAP phenomenon is a bubble that will burst sooner rather than later - political parties and some section of the media – are those who stand for interests of the big corporates in the country. They know that if AAP and its popularity are not demolished sooner, more people will join it and its brand of politics, which will be detrimental to the interests of the corporates. 

In the economic front there is no considerable difference in the policies of Indian National Congress (INC) and BJP. The deregulation of petroleum prices by UPA government is certainly a move towards helping corporates in the oil exploration and refining sector. When Narendra Modi led BJP won in some states in the recent state elections, the Sensex soared and BJP supporters were gung-ho that it is a sign of how Modi’s rule could reinvigorate the markets and will lead to further economic growth. However it must essentially be seen as a sign of what Modi’s corporate policies will be if he comes into power. They know that Modi will give them a free reign and will give them enough authority to make profits, even if it means putting common man’s economic security at peril. Without doubt Modi’s government will continue with the deregulation policy of the present government vis-a-vis petroleum prices. If AAP comes to power they will bring back government regulation of petrol prices (or so they say), which would be unfavourable for the corporates and the parties that take their support. It is such type of people who are afraid of the AAP and are constantly in the look out for opportunities to decimate the good-will of the party. It is the same group of people - corporates, politicians and the media – who run around saying that great calamities have happened when Arvind Kejriwal moved in an Innova or when Prashant Bhushan spoke out his opinion about Indian Army’s involvement in Kashmir. Many times before politicians have made such remarks and many times before political parties have distanced themselves from such opinions by their leaders. No sky fell down then; no sky will fall down now.

It should also be noted that all the major political parties in India were united in passing a bill that will keep them away from the ambit of RTI act. By doing so they made sure that they keep all their financial records away from public scrutiny. An effort to bring in more transparency into the working of political parties and their financial sources was thus thwarted effectively. In comparison with other established political parties in India AAP voluntarily came out publically with all documents that show the sources of their income. That was an act that showed that AAP was ready to practice what they preach. But other political parties were not ready to take over that challenge, which apparently showed that they have something to hide from the public. When political parties accept donations from the public and when they claim that they work for the public, it is their responsibility to come clean on their sources of funding. 

AAP claims to be the political party that will jettison the ‘business as usual’ mode of working of other political parties in India. That ordinary model of political one-upmanship was on public view when AAP accepted the support of INC and created a government in Delhi. When AAP was reluctant in taking the support of INC and BJP, they were criticised for being adamant and obstinate for not accepting the support; they were criticised for pushing the state into another election, which was going to cost the nation more money. But once they accepted the INC support, the same people who criticised AAP for not taking the support, started crying foul and questioned the intentions of AAP and berated them as ‘opportunistic’. The age old political mindset of Indian politicians, the wretched ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’, was the emotion of the BJP there, who was sulking at its inability to form a government in Delhi. 

When INC’s dislike for AAP is a result of AAP’s claims that they will seriously pursue corruption cases against Congress leaders, BJP’s aversion stems from the knowledge that had it been not for the emergence of AAP, BJP would have reaped the seeds of anti-incumbency against Sheila Dixit in Delhi. Had AAP supported BJP to form government in Delhi, they would have been happy and would have kept on singing AAP’s praise till the next elections.

People in India are fed up with the unscrupulous political parties and politicians. As this writer had written in one of his earlier essays, politicians epitomise all the vices that human ingenuity could invent. What we need is a new brand of politics, where promises made in election manifestos are kept in their entire essence, if not verbatim. A new brand of politics that will comprehend people’s needs and will work towards attaining them. What we need now is an army of politicians who are honest, principled and hard working, who work not for themselves or their parties, but for the people they represent. AAP claims to be such a political movement and if it can remain so all its lifetime then it is the one that Indians were looking for to change their fortunes. Let us hope that AAP will remain a principled political party devoid of all the ills that beset traditional political parties in India.

Disclaimer: This writer is not associated with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in any way.

Ashes Drama to Resume Tomorrow - Stage: Adelaide Oval

After the first part of the Ashes drama at Gabba, Brisbane, where all the protagonists played their parts well, all is set for the second part of it, this time the stage is Adelaide Oval and it starts tomorrow. High octane performance by the actors Michael Clarke, David Warner, Mitchell Johnson, James Anderson, George Bailey and others made sure that there was not a boring moment in the first test match. Mentally debilitated after the heavy loss in England, the Aussies were licking their wounds and were preparing well in anticipation for a pay back to the English. They walked the talk when they crushed England mercilessly and gave a tremendous blow to the confidence of the Englishmen.

Apart from a brilliant contest between bat and ball, there was utter chaos in the Brisbane test, with war or words between the players of the two teams often crossing the limits of gentlemanly behaviour. The now infamous “get ready for a broken f*****g arm” taunt from Michael Clarke to James Anderson was the tipping point of the whole controversy. If the Australian public has trained their guns on Stuart Broad (remember the banner at Gabba that said, “Stuart Broad, I know what you did last summer”, in reference to his refusal to walk after he nicked the ball while batting at Trent Bridge), the players have Anderson on their radar. It is sure that the sledged and bruised England will certainly seek vengeance and will come back hard at the Australians. A mouth watering contest is on the cards and the batsmen on both sides can expect a flurry of short pitched deliveries aimed at them from the fast bowlers of the other side.

Before the start of the test England has certain issues to sort out. First of all they will have to find a replacement at number 3 for Jonathan Trott who has left the team because of a stress related illness. There is every possibility that Joe Root will be promoted to that number as he is a much better player than to languish at number 5. If he was good enough to play as an opener in England, there is no reason why he should bat at number 5 in Australia. In that case there is a need to find a batsman at number 5. There is every chance that Root will be replaced at number 5 by his Yorkshire teammate, the Zimbabwe born, Gary Ballance, who would make his test debut. England also has some problems in the middle order as the charismatic Kevin Pietersen is terribly out of form. Though his good form will be just one innings away, England has been looking for that one innings for quite some time. The bad form of swashbuckling wicket keeper-batsman Matt Prior is another big worry for the visitors. If his dismissals in the first test are anything to go by, then he is completely out of sorts. English captain Alistair Cook, who is capable of making big test scores, isn’t completely in his brilliant self and his fellow opener Michael Carberry is a newbie, who is only trying to find his feet in the test arena. However the most important challenge for the English batsmen would be to negotiate the pace and bounce of Mitchell Johnson, who has vowed to continue with his short of length bowling approach.

In the bowling front too England has many things to worry about. The off spin of Graeme Swann had been one of the main reasons why England attained their supreme status in test match cricket. However he has been low on confidence recently and was not at his best in the Gabba test. In fact his offie counterpart in Australian team, Nathan Lyon had been a much better bowler in the last test. Swann gave lot of room for the Aussie left handers to swing their arms and received much lesser spin on the Gabba wicket than he usually gets. Stuart Broad was brilliant at Gabba and showed that he was not perturbed by the unruly crowd that was baying for his blood. But Anderson was not at his best and he was not able to swing the ball in Australia as he was in England and it should be a matter of worry for the English. A much greater worry is the absence of a third seamer who can support the new ball bowlers. Chris Tremlett was rather weak in the first test and hopefully England will replace him with Tim Bresnan.

However all is not lost for the visitors yet and they can overturn their fortunes if they can apply themselves. Cook could always play a captain’s knock anytime and his appetite for big runs, playing long innings, is well known. KP is a batsman who can turn it on anytime and if he gets into his hitting mood then he can blow away any attack. Ian bell had been the anchor around which other players batted in the summer edition of Ashes in England. The little Warwickshire right hander is a brilliant player who is capable of a long test match innings. Anderson, who had been the target of the Australians, particularly the Aussie captain, would be all fired up and on his day he is a handful with the swinging red cherry. The lanky Englishman Broad can trouble the Aussie batsmen with his steep bounce and could well be England’s answer to Mitchell Johnson.

All in all cricket enthusiasts are looking forward to seeing an awesome test match, where fire will be met with fire, bouncers with bouncers and words with words. The on-field umpires and the match referee will surely have a tough match on their hands. May the best team win.

How to Use “a” and “an”

We have learnt in our grammar classes that one should use the article “an” before words that start with vowels (a,e,i,o,u) and “a” before words that start with consonants (alphabets other than the vowels). But it is not as simple as it sounds. 

The grammar rule is that you use “a” before words that start with a consonant sound and “an” before words that start with a vowel sound. So it does not depend on how we write a word but on the way we say it.

Therefore it is simple enough when it is

• a cat
• a game
• a human being
• a very tall man
• a pot

and

• an apple
• an extremely good sound
• an interesting snap
• an old man
• an umbrella

However things get complicated when words that start with vowels are spelled with consonant sounds and words that start with consonants are spelled with vowel sounds. Here we have to judge whether to use “a” or “an” on the basis of the sound.

So when a word starts with a vowel letter but spelled with consonant sound you should use "a" as in

• a user (sounds as 'yoo-zer')
• a European (sounds as 'you-ro-pe-an')
• a one-day conference (sounds as 'won-day')

Similarly when a word starts with a consonant letter but spelled with vowel sound you should use "an" as in

• an honest lady (sounds as 'on-est')
• an hour (sounds as 'our')
• an FDI enterprise (sounds as 'eff-dee-eye')

Hope this helps.

Greedy BCCI Has Tarnished Image of a Great Man and a Great Game

Had it been not for the enormous passion with which we Indians adore the game of cricket, BCCI would have been an organisation that is observing its 15th odd death anniversary by now. But because we are passionate followers of cricket we mostly only glance over and often easily forget the many audacious misdemeanours of BCCI, bringing the game into disrepute and tarnishing the image of very many great servants of the game. 

The recent decision of the BCCI to bring in a two match home series against West Indies by cutting short the South African away series with the intention of having Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th test in Mumbai is an attempt to fill in its coffers by cashing on the Tendulkar mania in the country. By taking such a unilateral decision BCCI has prevented the cricket lovers the joy of watching a mouth watering contest between India and South Africa. Such a decision has also given a chance to the Tendulkar bashers to claim that BCCI has given him an easy opponent on his request to play against in his 200th test. Any observer of the game who has had the privilege of watching the game of Sachin Tendulkar all these years would certainly dismiss it as a ridiculous assumption, but this is enough to tarnish some image of the great man. It is a known fact that the financial power of BCCI, which it uses at its will every time, has been the result of the heightened popularity of the game in India after Sachin Tendulkar almost single-handedly put India as a force to reckon with in world cricket. When BCCI, not to mention Indian cricket, owes so much to the great man, at least it can resist from doing anything that would put blemish on the image of the great man.

Nothing like an Ashes test match, they say; any cricket match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan would be quite exciting as well and there had been some very competitive cricket whenever India and Australia met in test matches. However a long test match series between the top ranked test team South Africa and the top ranked one day team, the defending world champions India, would be equally exhilarating to behold. Many have the opinion that the present team is the strongest ever in the history of Indian cricket. A test series against the Proteas at their home would be a perfect stage for the present Indian team to test their skills and evaluate by themselves how strong or weak they are. How the likes of Dhoni, Dhawan, Pujara, Jadeja and others would fare against the fiery Dale Steyn’s pace, bounce and swing is something the whole cricketing world wants to see. Future generations would judge the present Indian team on the basis of how they play the South Africans at their den.

By curtailing the length of the test series the BCCI has curtailed such a magnificent opportunity for the players as well as the enthusiasts. It is quite obvious that BCCI is not focussed on improving the game in India or the development of the players’ skills, but only on making more money and thereby amassing more wealth and gaining more financial clout in the cricketing world. By unilaterally reneging on the promise made to Cricket South Africa on a longer test series, BCCI has also showed once again to the world what a nauseating bully it is. At home the BCCI bosses work like autocratic rulers preventing any attempt by the government to bring in transparency in its affairs and internationally they act like rogue states, insensitive to the aspirations of other cricketing nations and dismissive of the generally accepted norms of international conduct.

When IPL spot fixing scam was revealed to the world, there were allegations that some of the BCCI officials have also coalesced with the spot fixing agents. There was huge public anger against the BCCI officials and public opinion was hugely in favour of bringing in more transparency and governmental control into the working of BCCI. But as time went on all those protests died down and we got back to where we started. It is imperative that someone takes this responsibility and rein in the BCCI, otherwise its greed and avarice will tarnish the image of the game in India, the same way its recent action has somewhat tarnished the image of the greatest Indian cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar. 

We, the citizens in the Republic of Sachin, strongly and unequivocally condemn BCCI’s decision to curtail the test series between India and South Africa and the resultant dishonour it has brought to the image of Sachin and the image of India as a cricketing nation. When it is about Sachin Tendulkar, Cape Town would be the same as Mumbai and his 200th test match appearance, indeed a historic moment, will be celebrated with the same enthusiasm by his millions of fans, wherever in the world that may happen.

A Trivandrumite Prays to Those Who Have Come to Lay a Siege on Secretariat

Dear brothers and sisters,

You have come from many parts of Kerala to lay siege on government Secretariat, for you think the Chief Minister of Kerala should resign and should face judicial enquiry on account of his alleged involvement in the Solar scam. To you all, the brave soldiers of the LDF, this writer, being a Trivandrumite, has a special prayer to make. 

You have come in large numbers and this great city has welcomed you all with enormous goodwill as it had welcomed many a human being from time immemorial. For most of you this city will be a stranger; a place where you have come for a few days after which you will go back to your cities and villages, leaving behind things that you have brought from your home, but would no longer be of any use to you. You have come in vast numbers and it’s a known fact that your political parties have not been able to arrange all facilities for you. But this writer, for the love of his beloved city, prays to you all to keep the city as clean as possible all along your stay in Trivandrum. 

Like most of you, neither the man you want to dethrone, nor the one who have called upon all of you to dethrone him, considers this city his home. But for us, who had the privilege to have born and brought up in this city, who have the pleasure to call this city his/her home, the city of Trivandrum is our soul and heart. This is the city where our parents were born or this is the place they decided later to call their home. This is the city where we were born, this is the city through the pavements of which we took our baby steps and learnt to walk, guided by our parents. This is the city that taught us to dream; this is the city from which we learnt to read and write and gathered our knowledge. This is the city that taught us life and this is the city that taught us to win emphatically and to lose gracefully. This is the city that gave us a lot of friends and brothers and sisters; this is the city that gave us our teachers, who have guided us all through our life. This is the city, though the streets and roads of which we walked alongside our boyfriends and girlfriends, hand in hand, dreaming about a future of togetherness. This is the same city through which we walked around with tears in our eyes thinking about our lost love. This is the city which sowed in us seeds of great thoughts and ideas and this is the city where we learnt how to agree to disagree. This is the city, whose every nook and corner are so familiar to us that we will traverse them as if we are traversing inside our home. This is the same city with many great landmarks that have a proud past and a rich history, about which when we were young our parents had told us with enormous pride and we listened with innocent enthusiasm. This is the city where our fathers have died and where we hope to die one day.

When the government calls in the military and orders them to fire, it is the heart of the city that gets hurt; it is the hearts of those who love this city that bleed. When you throw stones on to the buildings of this city, it is not the glasses that get shattered, it is the hopes and aspirations of the Trivandrumites that get shattered. So this writer, on behalf of his other fellow Trivandrumites, requests you to keep the city as clean as possible, as safe as possible and as destruction-free as possible, for this city may be a temporary shelter for you, but this city is our heart and soul and each and every inch of this city is quite beloved to us.

With lots of prayers,

Your brother.

The Ashes – Australia in SOS Mode

The third Investec Ashes test will start today at Old Trafford, Manchester. There has never been such a weak Australian cricket team in recent living memory. This team is a far cry from those days of Australian glory when their 11 member team consisted of Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Waugh twins, Martyn, Gilchrist, Warne, Lee, Gillespie and McGrath. 2-0 down already and looking down the barrel with the struggling batting side even before the start of the third test, the Aussie coach Darren Lehmann has given the SOS call and has invited his former team mate Shane Warne to help his boys with the mental side of the game. 

The main cause for the recent slump in form for the Australian cricket team is their poor batting performance. With the exception of Captain Michael Clarke there is no one in the team who could be called world class; and even he is struggling with his form. Shane Watson, the burly all rounder, seems all lost with his batting form. Three out of four times he was out LBW in identical fashion to the seamers. Each of these times he planted his left foot down the pitch and got into a tangle when he tried to play around it. There seems to be no end to his woes if he doesn’t find a way out of this technical flaw which has suddenly crept into his batting. His opening partner Chris Rogers has got his task cut out as well. At Lords, which is a home ground for him as he has been playing for Middlesex in the English county cricket since 2011, he was not able to make an impression. When in the first innings he missed a full toss from Swann and was out LBW, in the second innings he missed to read a straight one from the same bowler and was out bowled. Usman Khawaja, who replaced another struggling batsman Ed Cowan, was able to get some good runs in the second innings of the Lords test and he will be looking forward to carry his good performance to the third test. Phil Hughes is a talented batsman and always appears quite confident against the pace bowlers, but against the turning ball he is not quite as good. Steven Smith is a confident cricketer, but his ability to play a long innings that is required in test matches seems doubtful. Brad Haddin is a fighter as he showed in his second innings batting at Trent Bridge, where he took the team almost to a famous win.

Australian bowling headed by the never-tiring Peter Siddle is nowhere near those Warne-McGrath times. James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc are talented bowlers but lacked consistency in the matches they played. Ryan Harris made a good comeback in the Lords test and he will have to give Siddle a good company if the Aussies have to come back into the series. Though Ashton Agar had a dream debut with the bat, where he scored 98 runs at Trent Bridge, his bowling leaves much to be desired. 

The Old Trafford pitch will aid the spin bowlers in turning the ball as the days progress. To make use of this turning track, England has already recalled left arm spinner Monty Panesar. Australia could follow suit and can include Nathan Lyon, their front line spinner into the team. The off spinner is widely considered as the best spinner in Australia today and it would be foolish not to make use of him when he is already in the squad. As Pattinson is out of the Ashes with an injury, Australia can always play two spinners in the final eleven. With so many right handers in the England team it would not be a bad idea to continue with the left arm spin of the young Agar.

Extraordinary times require extraordinary decisions and these are extraordinary times for Australian cricket. It would be an inspired decision if Australia calls back David Warner, who has been out because of his rude off field behaviour. If bad off field behaviour could be the reason for not taking a good player in, then the great Ricky Ponting wouldn’t have been picked in the Australia team at all. If Steven Smith, who is down with a back injury, is not able to attain match fitness today then Australia will be able to accommodate Warner in the team without dropping Rogers. If that is the case then the two southpaws will open the innings and Shane Watson could come at number 6 in the place of Steve Smith. As mentioned earlier, as all top order batsmen of England, except Alistair Cook, are right handers, Michael Clarke can always decide to roll his arm over. He is a formidable left arm spinner and with the ball turning away from the right handers, he could be a handful in the turning Old Trafford pitch.

If Ashes has to live up to its name, then Australia has to come back strong and offer a good fight against the English. But it won’t be that easy against a formidable English side in their top form. In a turning track at Old Trafford it would not be a lot of fun to face the spin duo of Swann and Panesar. James Anderson, England’s highest wicket taker in tests would be looking forward to swing the red cherry both ways in his home ground. If the Aussies pull up their act together and fight hard it would be an interesting third test in the Ashes, otherwise it will slip into one of those boring, lopsided affairs similar to what we witnessed at Lords ten days back.

Subject-Verb Agreement in English

We know the basic principle that singular subjects need singular verbs and plural subjects need plural verbs. Therefore we know,

• My book is new & my books are new.
• My sister reads novels & my sisters read novels.

However all subject-verb agreement principles are not that easy. We will deal with that topic here.

Indefinite pronouns like anyone, everyone, everybody, someone, no one are always singular and they need singular verbs.

•  Someone has left his book here.
• Everyone associated with the project is proud about its successful completion.
• Everybody is here. (Everybody certainly feels like more than one person and hence we may tend to use plural verb, but it is actually singular and hence requires a singular verb)

The subject each is always singular and hence will require a singular verb.

• Each of the employees is responsible for the successful completion of the project.

The verb that follows pronouns such as some and all is determined by whether the pronoun is referring to something COUNTABLE or not. Countable subjects need plural verb and uncountable subjects need singular verb.

• Some of my books are old.
• Some of the grain was ruined by the flood.

(Books are countable hence a plural verb, while grain is not countable hence a singular verb)

None is generally considered singular, but it can also be used as plural pronoun.

• None of the representatives is honest OR none of the representatives are honest.

With fractional and decimal expressions, the verb will be determined by what is being measured – is it COUNTABLE or not.

• Two-fifths of the grain is ruined. (Grain is not countable, hence singular verb)
• One-half of the employees were trustworthy. (Employees is countable, hence a plural verb)

When either and neither appear as a subject alone (without or and nor) they are considered singular, though the subject seems to be two things.

• Neither of these answers appears to be satisfactory.
• My company will offer me extra pay or will allow me to take a compensatory day off. Either is fine with me.

However when either and neither act as correlative conjunctions (that is when they combine two subjects), the subject that is CLOSER TO THE VERB determines whether to use singular or plural form of a verb.

• Neither the principal nor the teachers are at fault (the plural subject teachers is close to the verb, so the plural verb are)
• Neither the teachers nor the principal is at fault (the singular subject principal is close to the verb so the singular verb is)
• Either the members or the leader has to take the responsibility.
• Either the leader or the members have to take the responsibility.

At times many modifiers may come between a subject and its verb, but they must not confuse the agreement between the subject and its verb. For example,

• The leader, though he has not been successful in completing many projects and has not been the favourite of most of the team members, is still in charge of the project.

If your sentence combines a positive subject and a negative subject and one is singular, the other is plural, the verb must agree to the positive subject.

• The teachers of the department but not the principal have decided not to teach on a hartal day.
• It is the speaker, not his words, that has provoked the listeners.

In Response to Sreesanth’s Mother’s Article in Mathrubhumi Daily

There is nothing in this world greater than a Mother. Therefore when this writer read cricketer Sreesanth’s mother’s article in Mathrubhumi Daily on the innocence of her son, he didn’t feel it to be anything curious. She has only done that which all mothers will do for their devoted sons, though many of her arguments in support of her son are shallow and tedious - but let’s speak about it another day. What this writer finds ridiculous is how a newspaper like Mathrubhumi decided to give space to such an article which could only be considered as an attempt of the newspaper to cash in on the mindset of those readers with similar mindsets of the audience of those tears extracting, soap serials. 

The Malayalam media, both print and TV, should take a big responsibility in spoiling a great bowling talent like Sreesanth. The unwanted and extensive coverage that they gave to Sreesanth’s on field and off field antics spun him out of equilibrium. His parents and other family member were equally interested in appearing frequently in the media that they also turned out to be a popularity-seeking family of a popularity-seeking man. The images of Sreesanth’s mother coming out of the Puja muri (room for worship) were flashed across all channels when India won the T20 World Cup in 2007. There were even commentaries that were almost on the lines that India won the title because of his mother’s prayers and not because of the on field performance of the Indian team in Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. 

Sachin Tendulkar is the most famous man in Indian cricket; MS Dhoni is the most popular player in the present day Indian cricket. How many times have you seen articles written by mothers of these famous men about their sons? Tendulkar has been famously protective about his family and has always tried to shield them from the media. MSD’s family has always been media shy and has always tried not to comment anything publicly about their world famous family member.

It takes enormous strength of character to fend off media glare and concentrate on your work. The media will try to extract everything out of you when you are in the height of your popularity, will take you to ludicrous heights with their promotional sway and will even try to pull your family into it. If you fall for it then you are sure to collapse one day and get battered, and may even pass that threshold from where there will be no chance of a come back. Personal discipline, moral courage and strong family values are what it takes to survive the media onslaught.

Though the paparazzi culture hasn’t invaded Indian media completely yet, some attributes of it have started to appear. Therefore it is not only these famous men (and women), but their families too who should guard against this villainous media. Sreesanth and his family have fallen into this trap many times; they will do well not to fall yet another time. Till such wisdom come to him and his family can we readers just stop romanticising and feeding on such cheap emotions?

Credibility Crisis Rocks the Great Game

As this writer has been preoccupied with some official tasks he has not been writing any essay in his blog for the past two months. However the credibility crisis that is rocking the game he loves the most has left him with no other choice but to express his views through his blog. It is a sad state of affairs that some unscrupulous players have brought disrepute to the great game by their personal greed and avarice.

It appears that this has been the chance that many detractors of the game of cricket were looking for to come down heavily on the game. They are out with their knives and attacking the game with opinions that call for a ban on IPL or even a ban on the game of cricket as a whole. It is a shame that three players, who were made famous by the game, have been instrumental in bringing ignominy to the gentlemen's game.

In cricket, as in any other profession, nothing can substitute personal integrity and discipline in defining how successful a person could ever become. We have many an example in cricket, where the lack of the previously mentioned qualities has become the undoing of a player. Therefore, when news of the spot-fixing scandal was breaking on news channels, with the images of its three protagonists flashing on television screens, there was a sense of déjà vu for all of us. 

Yes, there was a sense that we have seen it before, we are seeing it now and we will see it again in the future. That BCCI didn’t take strong enough actions against players who were found guilty on spot-fixing allegation last season of IPL has resulted in the repetition of the crime in this season too. Many in the country doubt that the bosses of BCCI are not very much interested in protecting and enhancing the image of the game but in utilising the popularity of the game in filling their coffers and in usurping greater power. It is high time that the government take steps to flush out all those in BCCI who are not cricketers. As of now, the committee is dominated by businessmen and politicians, some of whom haven’t even played galli cricket. What good can anyone expect from these men to cricket in India? 

Being a commercial heavyweight, India, and as an extension the BCCI, wields enormous power in international cricket. We have seen many occasions where the BCCI had resorted to arm twisting tactics to bring the international cricket under its control and to make the ICC change rules and laws in accordance with its whims and fancies. Because of this there is a general discontent against BCCI among many cricket associations around the world. They are surely going to use this opportunity to slam the BCCI for its lack of transparency and its inability in preventing corruption and fixing cases.

This writer had the privileged opportunity to read Gulu Ezekiel’s biography of Sachin Tendulkar, Sachin. The various instances depicted in the book of the love for the game, personal integrity, commitment and patriotism of the Master Batsman had given goose bumps to him. The way in which he overcame not only fearsome opponent bowlers and lack of talent in his team but also treachery and betrayal of some of his team mates, is a matter of pride for every citizen of this great nation. Much like Tendulkar, other players of his generation like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman are also men of great personal uprightness and commitment. It defies human understanding how players who have had chances to share dressing room with such legends can stoop this low and cheat their own teams for a few bucks.

This is not the time to cry over the lowering standards of integrity of the players and do nothing. It is imperative for the BCCI and all the franchisees of the IPL to provide all assistance to the Delhi Police and the Mumbai Police in their investigations on the spot-fixing scandal. If the players are found guilty then they should be given immaculate punishment which would act as a deterrent to future players from indulging in fixing matches. The scandal that has come to the fore appears only to be a tip of the iceberg. It is very important to go deep to the roots of this issue and identify the places where the rot has happened. If the whole system is flawed, it should be corrected as soon as possible before people’s mistrust on this great game would put its future to jeopardy.